In a traditional electrical grid, the electrical grid rarely interacts with the power consuming devices it serves. In other words, the electrical grid normally does not know when a power consuming device is going to start and how much electricity the power consuming device is going to consume, nor does the power consuming device have any idea of how much power the electrical grid can supply. As a result, if many power consuming devices start to operate at the same time, the aggregate load of the electrical grid is likely to go beyond the operation capacity of the electrical grid, which may result in higher operation cost or even failure of the electrical grid. In a modern electrical grid, specifically, a smart grid, information about the power consuming devices and the electrical grid are directly or indirectly exchanged therebetween to schedule operation of the power consuming devices in order to keep the aggregate load of the electrical grid at an optimised level, such that the electrical grid and/or the power consuming devices can operate under an optimised condition.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.